It decays at about 1% per day, so unless you are planning on taking a month to finish, you're fine. 6000 effective strength seems to be the top you can possibly need, but you can get just as good endings at over 5000.

when I went to bed at 5am this morning I was at 100%, less than 12 hours later I'm at 98%.

Maybe you should try harder.

damn me and my need for sleep!

my game has started acting wonkier than usual last night- for example last night it started playing Mass Relay cutscenes whenever I traveled to a different cluster within a system, and when I did MP earlier it just dumped me directly into a game without going to the lobby. I guess the Reapers are getting desperate to stop me!

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But those levels Destructor listed are WITH multiplayer, or without? E.g. you need [the highest number he listed] in SP, or that needs to be your number once you apply the MP multiplier?

You get your final score multiplied by whatever percentage your MP is at? So if you have 1000, and your MP is at 62%, you get 620?

It's the effective (modified) strength you need to be concerned with, not the raw strength. The computer on the CIC deck shows it all.

yep, it's Military strength x Galactic Readiness = Effective Military Strength. I'm towards the end and unless there are a bunch of systems that are going to be unlocked I may just hit 8000 MS, which, with a GR of 50% would give me 4000 EMS.

on another note, I'm guessing Galactic Readiness decay is 1% every 6 hours, because since my post almost 3 hours ago it's gone down another percent. too bad they don't let you bank excess percentage points, because I got 3% maybe 2 hours ago which would have put me at 101%

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The blue part of the bar is Effective Military Strength, and Military Strength is the grey part as well? Trying to remember what this screen looks like... does it actually give you a number there as well, i guess?

Very disappointed by the endings. Not what the ME games were building up to.

I absolutely hate games that have meaningless and arbitrary choices at the end that invalidate everything else done in the game. Oh and the usual arbitrary and cliche heroic sacrifice, despite the technology represented in the game being more than capable.

Not to mention an ending, character, and plot elements that were never built up or hinted at.

It's like they couldn't write themselves out of the Reaper sized hole and just rubbed crap against the wall until something looked half-decent.

Will discuss more once others have finished.

that's kind of how I feel. it's almost like:

Spoiler for Hiden:

the people who wrote the ending didn't play the first 2 and a 3/4's of Mass Effect.

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hmmm.. Mp was originally going to be a stand alone game. maybe it'll still see the light of day.

I'm glad it didn't. Death to the FPS! aka, since I've retired from FPSs due to chronic motion sickness.

A couple guys at another forum were kvetching about the ME series not being first person and I was like, you've got 5,000 first person shooters last I looked. Just how many do you need? I have exactly one good co-op third person shooter (not including mmorpgs in the count), last I looked. This one.

hmmm.. Mp was originally going to be a stand alone game. maybe it'll still see the light of day.

I'm glad it didn't. Death to the FPS! aka, since I've retired from FPSs due to chronic motion sickness.

A couple guys at another forum were kvetching about the ME series not being first person and I was like, you've got 5,000 first person shooters last I looked. Just how many do you need? I have exactly one good co-op third person shooter (not including mmorpgs in the count), last I looked. This one.

maybe someone could just make a BF3 mod.

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you've got 5,000 first person shooters last I looked. Just how many do you need? I have exactly one good co-op third person shooter (not including mmorpgs in the count), last I looked. This one.

Exactly. We don't need more first person shooters, the market is full of good FPS choices already. Isn't the running joke right now that every franchise will be turned into a FPS if the big publishers have their way? Sid Meir's Pirates 2? FPS with kinect dancing. Civilization VI? FPS with build options that can be gestured with Kinect. The possibilities are endless.

you've got 5,000 first person shooters last I looked. Just how many do you need? I have exactly one good co-op third person shooter (not including mmorpgs in the count), last I looked. This one.

Exactly. We don't need more first person shooters, the market is full of good FPS choices already. Isn't the running joke right now that every franchise will be turned into a FPS if the big publishers have their way? Sid Meir's Pirates 2? FPS with kinect dancing. Civilization VI? FPS with build options that can be gestured with Kinect. The possibilities are endless.

actually, some of those might be kinda cool. controlling Civ 6 with hand gestures? IN!

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If the art book isn't catching you're eye, Dark Horse is giving Mass Effect fans another way to unlock these bonus items. The Mass Effect: Invasion mini-series available from the Dark Horse Digital store will also grant you the Reinforcement Pack's redemption code.

Sadly, this offer isn't going to stand much longer. While you still have plenty of time to redeem the code, the book(s) have to be purchased by March 21st. If you want a new assault rifle to show off to your co-op buddies you should probably act fast. Head over to Digital.Darkhorse.com for all the info and keep in mind the purchase has to be made through the website on your PC or Mac, not through the Dark Horse Digital app on iOS or Android.

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I finished the game yesterday, having completed every single mission and task that was ever assigned to me during the game. In other words, when I started the final mission that was the only active entry in my mission journal, and I had no failed missions. Playing as a paragon who did things pretty damn well, I had an effective strength of exactly 3500 in the end. I won't touch the MP even if I get paid for it. To know that even with all the time I spent maximizing my military strength (total playtime was about 45 hours) I still had two possible ending permutations completely out of my reach infuriates me. It also further shows that my decision to boycott Bioware from now on is the right one. Under EA they have become way, way too focused on the money, doing everything in their might to squeeze just a few more dollars out of us and making sure we're continually told in the SP game that we haven't bought into their agenda enough yet (through the readiness stat).

On the other hand, I actually sort of like the ending. I can see why others might not, but for me it worked. This may be because I've read quite a bit of classic sci-fi, and stuff like what happened in the end of ME3 is very typical of that genre. It was surprising, but it also made sense, was alluded to in all three games (even though that was probably accidental for the first two), and tied everything together without revealing too much about the fate of the galaxy (trying not to go into spoiler territory here).

What probably caught people off guard is that Mass Effect's story (all three games) is honestly quite weak and clichéd, whereas the ending suddenly turns everything on its head and goes into the realm of philosophy. What works so well with this series is the character development and the characters themselves. Remove them and you're left with a story that is paper-thin. Games like Freespace have a very similar story that is told much, much better (again, apart from the characters).

I can honestly say that if the ending to the game was what everyone probably expected, in other words:

Spoiler for Hiden:

the Reapers being destroyed by the MacGuffin and Shepard probably dying,

most of us would have been left bitterly disappointed (or at least I hope so). An ending you can see coming even before a game begins is not a good ending.

I won't touch the MP even if I get paid for it. To know that even with all the time I spent maximizing my military strength (total playtime was about 45 hours) I still had two possible ending permutations completely out of my reach infuriates me.

This really bugs me as well. Especially since I'm playing on 360, so playing MP would require me to additionally pay for an XBL Gold membership which I have absolutely no need for. A really awful choice by EA.

OK, but I remember in Return of the King rolling my eyes when Gandalf the White suddenly could conjure giant Eagles (?!) to help Frodo and Samwise escape Mount Doom. Really?

I think that would be a better optional ME3 Ending: Shepard is magically endowed with the ability to summon millions of Giant Flying Eagles out of his ass, thus turning the tide of the batttle, only to see the remnants of earth die from avian flu from all the giant bird shit!

And I tell you, even THAT would be better received than the current ME3 ending...

OK, but I remember in Return of the King rolling my eyes when Gandalf the White suddenly could conjure giant Eagles (?!) to help Frodo and Samwise escape Mount Doom. Really?

I think that would be a better optional ME3 Ending: Shepard is magically endowed with the ability to summon millions of Giant Flying Eagles out of his ass, thus turning the tide of the batttle, only to see the remnants of earth die from avian flu from all the giant bird shit!

And I tell you, even THAT would be better received than the current ME3 ending...

what color would the eagles be?

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OK, but I remember in Return of the King rolling my eyes when Gandalf the White suddenly could conjure giant Eagles (?!) to help Frodo and Samwise escape Mount Doom. Really?

I think that would be a better optional ME3 Ending: Shepard is magically endowed with the ability to summon millions of Giant Flying Eagles out of his ass, thus turning the tide of the batttle, only to see the remnants of earth die from avian flu from all the giant bird shit!

And I tell you, even THAT would be better received than the current ME3 ending...

I take it you didn't read the hobbit, or pay attention to how he escaped Orthanc. Gandolf has a history with giant eagles.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I think his point was why didn't Gandalf have the eagles fly the ring to the Crack of Doom in the first place.

I think JRR Tolkien answered that himself(if you listen to the commentary on one of the LOTR films-maybe Fran Walsh or Phillipa Boyans,it was a woman saying it anyway)and they say that the Eagles are not the 'Taxi service'(and therefore not a delivery service either) to Humans and related folk.Even in The Hobbit they did not come off as though they were particularly fond of us,LOL..Gandalf had used up all his airmiles anyway

"Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions," he said, "providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You'll hear more on this in April." Muzyka stressed that BioWare is actively working to maintain the story's artistic integrity, and that these new "content initiatives" are separate from the company's pre-existing plans to continue the Mass Effect universe's expansion. "Rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."

'content initiatives'? is that a new fancy way of saying DLC?

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